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    8Gb ram or ssd

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by xDC, Jun 9, 2010.

  1. xDC

    xDC Notebook Enthusiast

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    Im about to order a Macbook pro 13 from the apple store, which do you think will have a better performance boost, the 256 gb apple ssd, or 8 gb of ram

    1906.00$ CAN with education discount with 256 Gb ssd

    1669.00 with 8gb of ram
     
    xDC, Jun 9, 2010
    #1
  2. chris2k5

    chris2k5 Notebook Consultant

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    Neither. Just buy the the Macbook Pro 13" with the processor you want WITHOUT any upgrades.

    After you get the laptop, go out or online and buy the RAM and SSD yourself and install it yourself.

    You will save probably over $1000.
     
    chris2k5, Jun 9, 2010
    #2
  3. RogueMonk

    RogueMonk Notebook Deity

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    I agree. Buy aftermarket and install yourself.

    Now to your question, SSD over RAM for sure.
     
    RogueMonk, Jun 9, 2010
    #3
  4. 2.0

    2.0 Former NBR Macro-Mod®

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    SSD, hands down. 8GB RAM will do virtually nothing for you unless you are that much of a power user.
     
    2.0, Jun 9, 2010
    #4
  5. Seshan

    Seshan Rawrrr!

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    Yeah SSD would be the better choice, But don't buy it from Apple. Unless you run a lot of apps and VM's you probably won't need more then 4gb. And by a lot of apps I don't mean like 10, I mean like over 30 and VM's.
     
    Seshan, Jun 9, 2010
    #5
  6. xDC

    xDC Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks alot guys, you just saved me 400+ $$
     
    xDC, Jun 9, 2010
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  7. 2.0

    2.0 Former NBR Macro-Mod®

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    Good deal. Drinks on YOU! :D
     
    2.0, Jun 9, 2010
    #7
  8. Les

    Les Not associated with NotebookReview in any way

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    No doubt the SSD is the single most visibly noticeable upgrade you can make on a computer but the thought of buying it bare and then installing the ram and ssd yourself was great. You will save tons.
     
    Les, Jun 9, 2010
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  9. jjahshik32

    jjahshik32 Notebook Deity

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    Definitely the SSD drive, in most cases, 4GB of RAM is sufficient.
     
    jjahshik32, Jun 9, 2010
    #9
  10. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    I will have a thread in the selling section in the next few days as I am selling a OCZ Vertex 2 SSD drive - 240GB...... ;)
     
    ifti, Jun 10, 2010
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  11. xDC

    xDC Notebook Enthusiast

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    How much are you selling it for , and why ?
     
    xDC, Jun 10, 2010
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  12. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    ifti, Jun 10, 2010
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  13. RunRunRun

    RunRunRun Notebook Enthusiast

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    For somebody that's never seen the inside of a computer before, how difficult is it to install a SSD?
     
    RunRunRun, Jun 10, 2010
    #13
  14. 2.0

    2.0 Former NBR Macro-Mod®

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    Piece of cake. Seriously. :)

    A few screws and a slotted connector that can only connect one way.
     
    2.0, Jun 10, 2010
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  15. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    I will be creating a video on upgrading my MBP with an SSD in the next few days. Will post a link to it for you when it's done.
     
    ifti, Jun 10, 2010
    #15
  16. dbam987

    dbam987 wicked-poster

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    Ideally, having both would make any computer fly like a rocket. :p

    As others have said, having an SSD drive would give much more boost than adding more RAM. I'm waiting until 512 GB SSD drives are cheap enough to make the investment.
     
    dbam987, Jun 10, 2010
    #16
  17. TechAnimal

    TechAnimal Notebook Evangelist

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    What everyone said. I upgraded my old hard drive in my ancient notebook to an intel x25-m and the thing just flies. Its so fast that I almost don't remember that i've got only 1GB of memory and running Win 7 64bit!
     
    TechAnimal, Jun 10, 2010
    #17
  18. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    SSD will decrease your file transfer time and application startup time. While, the larger RAM will only be useful if you constantly run out of ram memory, for most people 4 gigs is more than enough.
     
    lead_org, Jun 14, 2010
    #18
  19. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    ifti, Jun 14, 2010
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  20. Jiten

    Jiten Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah if you need to choose, SSD will give you machine quite kick! But personally I would just upgrade to a 650 Gb drive, and save my money for the next big upgrade! :)
     
    Jiten, Jun 14, 2010
    #20